SB 770 Passes California Assembly

SB 770 Passes California Assembly

September 4, 2013

Today, SB 770, authored by State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) passed through the Assembly with a final vote of 51-22. This bill allows workers to receive Paid Family Leave benefits while caring for seriously ill grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, and parents-in-law. The measure, sponsored by Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center (LAS-ELC), and supported by the California Work & Family Coalition, a project of Next Generation, would expand the definition of family to more accurately reflect the caregiving responsibilities of California families.

California’s Paid Family Leave Law (PFL) was the first in the nation to provide partial pay to workers taking time off to care for seriously ill family members or to bond with new children. Funded entirely by employee payroll deductions, PFL provides up to six weeks of partial wage replacement benefits per year. However, current law only covers leave to care for a parent, child, spouse, or registered domestic partner. In other words, employees may not receive Paid Family Leave to tend to an ill sibling, grandparent, grandchild, or parent-in-law. Read the complete press release here.